She teaches language of driving

Instructor Melanie Paterson of Driving Unlimited helps a young student get comfortable behind the wheel of a car at the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy.

Alexandra Straub, Driving

Driving school: Translates track time into turning out more confident, competent drivers

by
Alexandra Straub | June 25, 2014

Small

Medium

Large

Melanie Paterson is no stranger to the automotive world.

As a former road racer, she has had many laps on the track and like any hot shoe she wouldn’t be opposed to more.

She also has over 15 years of industry experience, many of those in the capacity of driving coach in which she has translated the knowledge from the track into street driving.

Having worked with her on a first-hand basis over the years, I’ve seen what a great job she does of explaining what’s going on with the car in any given situation, offering remedies and helping turn your weaknesses into strengths.

Paterson has dedicated her career to seeing individuals of all ages morph into more confident and better drivers.

Being a co-owner of Driving Unlimited — a company that trains new drivers, as well as offers advanced driver training — she’s had the chance to work with a variety of people.

Melanie Paterson, here teaching, says new drivers must learn the rules of the road and vehicle dynamics of why cars do what they do.

Her most recent project includes being one of the lead instructors at Mercedes-Benz’s Driving Academy (MBDA).

The Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy was launched in April of 2013 in Vancouver. While MBDA is offered in other countries, it’s the German brand’s first iteration in Canada, with the Lower Mainland location the pilot project.

“We have been working with Mercedes-Benz since 2005 doing training, so when Mercedes decided they wanted to bring (MBDA) to Canada, they came and talked to us and we transformed our existing Driving Unlimited academy into MBDA for new drivers,” Paterson explains.

The transition was seamless, she continues, with her company keeping all the same instructors. They have, however increased resources and are now able to cater to a broader audience.

So what makes the MBDA so different from other training programs?

“We are professional drivers. That’s what we do. Driving is our passion. We take that and translate it to the skills that you need to know as a basic driver. It doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 60.”
She adds, “We teach people about the operation of the vehicle not just the road rules.

“We teach them the full package. We’re not only teaching students the rules of the road, we’re teaching them to understand vehicle dynamics, and to understand why the car does what it does, and how their car reacts to it.”

And if something out of the ordinary happens, Paterson asks the students why they think what happened, happened.

“We challenge the drivers to come up with answers, we’re not just feeding them information or having them memorize something that will help them pass a test. We prepare you for life on the road.”

Melanie Paterson has teamed her Driving Unlimited firm with the Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy to focus on training new drivers.

When Melanie sees her students excelling and understanding concepts of the intricacies of driving, she says it’s a great feeling.

“It’s very rewarding to get the students and also the parents to realize that driving is very complex,” she notes. “And most people don’t give it credit for how complex it is and how there are so many things involved.”

Those things include knowledge of road rules, different attitudes and behaviours, distractions, philosophies and more.

Having a strong foundation is all about developing good habits. It’s about repetition and more repetition.

“It’s like learning a language. When you’re trying to learn a language, you memorize the words and you kind of know the words but you have to listen to it in your own language, translate it, and then speak it. Once you get comfortable with that language, you think in that language. That’s kind of like driving.”

Even though Paterson has been training individuals for over a decade, she says, “I think it’s very exciting that a car manufacturer has stepped up to make a commitment to driving safety. It’s a worldwide initiative to help produce better and safer drivers at any age. But particularly those first stepping up to the plate.”